The mesosphere is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases. This character
Earth's atmosphere as it appears from space, as bands of different colours at the horizon. From the bottom, afterglow illuminates the troposphere in orange with silhouettes of clouds, and the stratosphere in white and blue. Next the mesosphere (pink area) extends to just below the edge of space at one hundred kilometers and the pink line of airglow of the lower thermosphere (dark), which hosts green and red aurorae over several hundred kilometers.
Afterglow of the troposphere (orange), the stratosphere (blue) and the mesosphere (dark) at which atmospheric entry begins, leaving smoke trails, such as in this case of a spacecraft reentry.
An astronaut onboard the International Space Station observes lightning at the horizon extending into the mesosphere as red sprite just below the line of airglow.
Noctilucent clouds (not to be mistaken with the slightly higher up airglow), at the upper edge of the mesosphere.
The thermosphere is the layer in the Earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and below the exosphere. Within this layer of the atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation causes photoionization/photodi
Figure 1. Diagram shows: Electric Conductivity (lines on left, scale above), including DYNAMO REGION — Temperature (line in center, scale below), LOWER is Troposphere, MIDDLE is Stratosphere and Mesosphere, UPPER is Thermosphere and Exosphere — Electrons per m3 (line on right, scale above), the start of the inner Van Allen belt
Figure 2. Schematic meridian-height cross-section of circulation of (a) symmetric wind component (P20), (b) of antisymmetric wind component (P10), and (d) of symmetric diurnal wind component (P11) at 3 h and 15 h local time. Upper right panel (c) shows the horizontal wind vectors of the diurnal component in the northern hemisphere depending on local time.